The Seattle University Women’s Tennis team competed in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championship tournament on April 27 to 28. For the first time ever, our Seattle U team beat the New Mexico State team in the tournament.
“We gave it our all and fought our butts off,” first-year Kyra Jung said.
Players commented on the difficulty of entering the competition as the last of the six seeds. Both redshirt senior Kelli Woodman and Jung felt the team played extremely well, winning 4-1 against New Mexico State on April 27. After a 2-4 loss against University of Missouri Kansas City during the semi-finals on April 28, the team headed home.
They didn’t go back without high recognition, however, as both Woodman and Jung won honors. Jung, who’s also Freshman of the Year, earned singles honor, which only six of all women in the tournament achieve. Both Jung and Woodman won doubles honors, composing two of only three winning teams from all schools in the competition. Jung and Woodman achieved second team doubles with their consecutive partners Hannah Gianan and Michelle Lui.
“I thought we played well and competed hard. We definitely brought everything we had and left it all out there,” Head Coach Adam Reeb said. “We knew we had a chance to compete with anyone in our conference if we played well, and I thought we showed everyone we’re a true contender and threat to win the championship.”
In addition to the competition ending tennis’ season for the year, this tournament was especially significant to the team since five of the nine team members will be graduating this year.
“I’ve never felt that before, knowing any of the games could be my last,” Woodman said. “Everybody had to bring it that day.”
Woodman described the feeling as “bittersweet” when she thought about leaving her teammates when she graduates. Jung had a hard time imagining saying goodbye to women that she’s “grown to call sisters.”
“I can’t explain the feeling of the team,” Woodman said. “It has been one of my favorite years to play by far.”
Woodman aims to continue playing tennis after her graduation, possibly by joining leagues back home. With four new first-years already lined up to join the team, the team will be full of new faces by the time their next tennis season comes around.
“Our goals are to keep improving as a program and to ultimately win our first WAC title,” Coach Reeb said. “We’ve steadily grown and gotten better as a program every year, so if we just keep focusing on getting a little better every day, I know we will reach that goal.”
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